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Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Lawmakers returning to Frankfort to pass a budget and other bills; here are some health-related measures that could pass
By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News
As lawmakers head back to Frankfort to pass a budget -- and other bills, despite Gov. Andy Beshear's repeated request that they pass only a budget and anything related to the coronavirus -- several big bills related to other aspects of health are pending, including some controversial measures.
Beshear, a Democrat, denied the request of the Republican legislative majority to call a special session after the...
Is it safe to see the pediatrician for vaccines and medical visits?
We’re tackling a few urgent questions from parents in this time of coronavirus and COVID-19. Are you wondering if babies and children should continue to have vaccines on schedule? Thinking about how to manage regular medical appointments, and which situations require in-person visits to a pediatric practice? Read on.
Should parents take babies for initial vaccines right now? What about toddlers and older children who are due for vaccines?
The answer...
Covid-19 update: Louisville officials plead for social distance
As news develops in Kentucky about the coronavirus and its covid-19 disease, this item will be updated. Official state guidance is at https://kycovid19.ky.gov.
Louisville officials "continued to address community concerns about reports of large gatherings of people, the Courier Journal reports. Police Chief Steve...
OK, boomer: You’re not the only one who needs testing for hepatitis C
It turns out that many more people than just boomers can benefit from testing for hepatitis C, a viral infection of the liver that often causes no symptoms. If you’re a member of the baby-boom generation (born between 1946 and 1964), your doctor may have already recommended the test. But those born before or after those years may not have known about the test unless they had a risk factor for hepatitis C, such as a history of intravenous drug use....
Monday, March 30, 2020
Sen. McConnell creates Cornavirus Response Portal with guidance on provisions in the federal relief act; warning that covid-19 doesn't just affect older people
As news develops in Kentucky about the coronavirus and its covid-19 disease, this item will be updated. Official state guidance is at https://kycovid19.ky.gov.
"The idea that this is purely a disease that causes death to older people we need to be very, very careful with," said Dr. Mike Ryan, the World Health Organization's...
Have a headache? The top 7 triggers
“Headaches aren’t welcome here” — that’s the sign you have hanging on your brain’s front door, but the pain is barging right in. You can chalk it up to stress from world events or something you ate or drank, and you might be right. But there are a number of common triggers for migraines, tension headaches, or cluster headaches. The faster you identify them, the quicker you can boot headache pain off the property.
What are the triggers for your headaches?
Take...
Pastor and former religion reporter writes: 'Use the brain the good Lord gave you. God is real and so are pandemics.'
This column is republished with the permission of the author and the Lexington Herald-Leader, where it originally appeared. An ordained minister for more than 30 years, Paul Prather is a columnist, author and pastor of Bethesda Church near Mount Sterling, Ky. From 1988 to 1997, he was a Herald-Leader staff writer covering primarily...
Sunday, March 29, 2020
Meth returns to Appalachian Kentucky, in a more deadly form
Dakota Scott, with her two-week-old daughter, fights meth addiction at Karen’s Place Maternity Center in Ashland, a facility for women in addiction recovery (Photo by Hilary Swift for The New York Times)
Timothy Williams of The New York Times reports from Louisa: "Home deliveries from the local food bank now...
Covid-19 update
As news develops in Kentucky about the coronavirus and its covid-19 disease, this item will be updated. Official state guidance is at https://kycovid19.ky.gov.
The coronavirus and social distancing haven't kept many Americans from reaching out to their neighbors "with gifts, music and whatever they have to offer," The Washington Post reports.
Republican Mitch McConnell, leader of the U.S. Senate's Republican majority, got advice from Democratic...
Saturday, March 28, 2020
Beshear signs more than 35 bills amid pandemic, many related to health care; physician assistants get limited prescribing power
By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News
The Kentucky legislature continues to pass bills despite Gov. Andy Beshear's plea that it just pass a budget and anything related to the coronavirus, due to the social distancing needed to thwart it. He announced Saturday that he had signed more than 35 bills into law, many of them related to health.
“While all of us should be focused on responding to the coronavirus as the number of cases grows in Kentucky,...
Trump declares Ky. a disaster area due to coronavirus
As news develops in Kentucky about the coronavirus and its covid-19 disease, this item will be updated. Official state guidance is at https://kycovid19.ky.gov.
President Trump declared Kentucky a major disaster area due to the coronavirus, following a request from every member of the state's congressional delegation, Senate...
Friday, March 27, 2020
Massie, long an outlier, is a House pariah after forcing members to gather, against public-health advice, to pass virus relief bill
By Al Cross
Kentucky Health News
Thomas Massie, the congressman from Kentucky's Fourth District, has long been at the limits of elective politics at the national level. He is more Libertarian than Republican, but his strong stands against the tax-and-spend mentality of the federal government harken back to Republicans of old, such as the late Sen. Robert Taft of Cincinnati, just across the Ohio River from his district.
Now that the Republican Party...
Two more Ky. deaths from covid-19, first day with more than one; Trump invokes Defense Production Act to get more ventilators
Ideas by Jason and Brooke Ison and @tizbitz, design by @SinclairArt for KyforKy.com
As news develops in Kentucky about the coronavirus and its covid-19 disease, this item will be updated. Official state guidance is at https://kycovid19.ky.gov.
Gov. Andy Beshear announced two more deaths in Kentucky from covid-19,...
Legislature passes bill to support state response to covid-19; includes many suspensions and changes in health-care rules
By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News
FRANKFORT, Ky. -- A bill supporting and enhancing Gov. Andy Beshear's executive orders to address the coronavirus pandemic passed without dissent in both chambers of the legislature Thursday, with a caution that more measures will likely be needed.
"Things evolve as we know day to day on this issue, and I'm sure there will be more needs," Sen. Ralph Alvarado, R-Winchester, said in describing the bill. Senate...
Thinning hair in women: Why it happens and what helps
Many people think of hair loss as a male problem, but it also affects at least a third of women. But unlike men, women typically experience thinning hair without going bald, and there can be a number of different underlying causes for the problem.
“Some are associated with inflammation in the body. Some are female-pattern hair loss,” says Dr. Deborah Scott, assistant professor of dermatology at Harvard Medical School and co-director of the Hair Loss...
Strategies to promote better sleep in these uncertain times
These are unprecedented times. Given the real and tangible threat of the coronavirus pandemic on personal, community, and societal levels, it is normal to experience anxiety and sleep problems. Sleep is a reversible state marked by a loss of consciousness to our surroundings, and as members of the animal kingdom, our brains have evolved to respond to dangers by increasing vigilance and attention — in other words, our brains are protecting us, and...
Thursday, March 26, 2020
Most Kentuckians with Alzheimer's are over 65 and have chronic illness, putting them at greater risk of covid-19; tips for caretakers
UKNow photo
People with Alzheimer's disease are considered at high risk for covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, not only because they have Alzheimer's, but also because most of the 272,000 Kentuckians with the disease are over 65 and most of them have at least one other chronic illness, Hillary Smith reports in...
Republican senators write legislation that would let GOP attorney general block abortions during Beshear's pandemic emergency
Attorney General Daniel Cameron
Kentucky Health News
Reacting to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear's order that apparently lets abortions continue during the covid-19 pandemic, Republican legislators have adopted a countermeasure.
A Senate amendment to House Bill 451 Thursday would allow Republican Attorney General Daniel...
Coping with the coronavirus pandemic for people with anxiety disorders
These days, we all have to accept the anxiety inherent in living in the time of the coronavirus pandemic and COVID-19. If there was a way to dispel all anxious feelings, I’d tell you, but there isn’t. The one exception might be someone who could summon such a degree of denial that they carry on as if everything was normal. And that, as I’m sure you can see, would prove to be very, very unwise.
Anxiety helps us prepare to respond in a more adaptive...
